<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>this is where the evening splits in half by soldiersummonersaint</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592619">this is where the evening splits in half</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiersummonersaint/pseuds/soldiersummonersaint'>soldiersummonersaint</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, I love my boys so much, M/M, alex just being. very in love, kenny ortega pls hire me to write the jatp script, willex rights babey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:42:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592619</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiersummonersaint/pseuds/soldiersummonersaint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>it was like running through a field of flowers. it was passionate and obsolete and it was incredible and alex laughed and screamed back: a thunder clap over the roar of the ocean. and there was an infinite, wistful beat where a thousand sunrises bloomed and decayed and roses without thorns twisted around his feet and it was over in a phantom heartbeat and a flex of the wrists.</p><p>or: alex hasn’t seen willie since the band played at the orpheum.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex &amp; Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>this is where the evening splits in half</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">alex had tried to keep away. the moon had promised to turn him mad and the sun begged him to let it rust his skin but still he said no. childhood had long passed him by. nostalgia is a liar. yearning weakens the heart.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">still, as the sun began to set and the long shadows in the studio began to thicken and swoop, alex scrunched his eyes shut. memories flooded his mind like a high tide, and he decided that it was high time to revisit them. </span> <em> <span class="s2">it’s good</span></em><span class="s1">, he reminded himself. </span> <span class="s2"><em>it meant i cared</em>.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">reggie and luke were working out some tune alex didn’t need to be a part of and julie was at flynn’s, so alex poofed out of the studio and outside the museum doors. a month ago, there was a boy with a bright smile and brighter eyes holding his hand. now, there was no one. alex looked at the empty space in the glass where his reflection should’ve been. how could he be nobody, but having to heave around this aching chest? </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">consumed by a wine-dark wanting and a perpetual ravenousness, alex stepped into the museum. what once was brimming with a floating, fleeting exhilaration; a monumental epiphany that screamed and soared and screeched, now stood dinosaur-bone still, stretching into the crevices of alex’s mind and seeping through those hopeful cracks of love he dared to keep open. love leaves a gaping wound that never heals. that’s the price of it. how many times can you bleed before you can’t anymore? when does the body run dry?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">languid and stiff like a limping summer’s day, alex sat himself down a bench and exhaled through his nose until he ran out of breath. ghostliness had never been so present as it was then. all of eternity, and for what? to be human is to hurt; to hunger; to break. what is it to haunt? how can you live knowing that you are not doomed to die? that is intrinsically human: the one thought that never wavers. the promise whispered during those nights where it felt like the darkness would never recede.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">it was dumb to come here. alex was about to poof back to the studio when a scream pounced on him and shot him six feet in the air.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">no.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">it was like running through a field of flowers. it was passionate and obsolete and it was incredible and alex laughed and screamed back: a thunder clap over the roar of the ocean. and there was an infinite, wistful beat where a thousand sunrises bloomed and decayed and roses without thorns twisted around his feet and it was over in a phantom heartbeat and a flex of the wrists.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">willie was by his side. and how right the world was, then. the sky leaned in to whisper </span> <span class="s2"> <em>you made it</em> </span> <span class="s1"> and the ground warbled its age-old song of rebirth. and willie was in front of him. alex choked on the sun and he howled in the rain and willie was right there, grinning, and flung himself into alex’s arms like he belonged nowhere else.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“i thought you were gone.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">when they pulled away willie was crying and alex was too.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“i thought </span> <span class="s2"> <em>you</em> </span> <span class="s1"> were gone.”</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">the world had never known a euphoria as riotous and calamitous: as ardent and fierce. love is what keeps the earth on its axis. love is what keeps your heart beating in the night. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">they embraced again, grasping at each other like they were just water cupped in hands and about to fall through the cracks any minute. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">willie and his saltwater smile; that softness around the edges that promised you you were the only thing in the world, took in the trembling alex who was sure one small breath could knock him off his feet. willie was next to him. nothing else mattered. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“how did you not disappear?” willie held alex’s gaze like a lifeline.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">and there was one thought on his mind, tugging itself towards the sunlight, flourishing with each pounding second. </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">and alex looked at willie, everlasting and soft and a contained explosion of a non-existent heartbeat and a persistent tugging of divinity, and in a sugar-spun burst of heaven replied, “love.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi thank you so much for reading!!!!! i’ve been experimenting with some new styles of writing which is why this fic is so weird but it was so fun to write!!!! i love willie and alex’s relationship so much :)</p><p>comments &amp; kudos are really appreciated!!!! my @ is ilovefredjones on tumblr or juliesscooby on twitter!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>